OPENING STATEMENT
“Getting ready to go on the road to West Virginia. A very talented football team. Our first Big East game and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

IS DEFENDING THE SPREAD OFFENSE EASIER NOW BECAUSE OF ITS POPULARITY?

“You know what you do? You get more looks at it on tape and you get more off-season study on it. But I don’t think it’s the spread so much as Pat White and Noel Devine. Pat White has been a premier player in this country for quite a few years in college football. Noel Devine reminds me of a guy that I had the opportunity to coach against in the National Football League and that’s Barry Sanders. He starts and starts with that kind of quickness and he makes people miss. I was just watching tape before I came in here and he had a run against Marshall where he had to make six people miss, and it covered the entire field width-wise. He is a phenomenal athlete. A phenomenal football player. So they have some weapons and I didn’t get into their receivers. They’re a very talented offensive football team.

“Defensively, they know what they want to do. They run a little different scheme in the 3-3-5. They’ve been good for a lot of years on defense.”

ARE YOU GAME-PLANNING ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT PAT WHITE IS HEALTHY?

“Yes. They’re playing both guys. They’re playing 16 and 5. So I anticipate that happening. We saw him (Jarrett Brown) him two years ago as you well remember. He’s a really good player too. There are going to be a lot of good athletes on that field on Saturday.”

ARE WE SEEING THE FRAGILITY OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL WITH ALL THE BIG EAST QUARTERBACKS BEING HURT LATELY?

“That’s football. It’s a physical sport. there certainly is the potential for injury.”

HAVE YOU NOTICED IF THEY’RE TRYING TO REDUCE THE CONTACT ON PAT WHITE BY HAVING HIM THROW MORE?

“They’re throwing the ball a little but more with Pat, but he’s still running the ball an awful lot.”

WERE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE AMOUNT OF BACKUP QB TIME FOR CHRIS PAUL-ETIENNE VS. MORGAN STATE?

“I’m happy.”

WVU COACH BILL STEWART SAID IT LOOKS LIKE RUTGERS IS BACK ON TRACK AND FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS. DO YOU AGREE?

“I think that’s a very generous statement. If that’s all of our cylinders then we need to go into the machine shop.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE AT LEAST CLOSER TO BEING ON TRACK?

“Are we getting better? I’ve said it all along, we’re getting better. Just not fast enough for our liking. But it is what it is. You just keep striving to get better. We’ll get better this week. We’ve got four practices, one we already did. We’ve got three more left. We’ll get ready.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOWARD BARBIERI’S VERSATILITY AND HOW HE CAN CHANGE SEAMLESSLY FROM GUARD TO TACKLE AND BACK IN THE SAME GAME?

“He’s a very bright guy. He’s been with us for a while. Howard has really matured as a player, physically matured. But he has matured as a football player. He’s a very mature young person so he handles this stuff well. I think Howard is going to play for us this year more and more.”

DOES IT MAKE IT AN EVEN BETTER STORY KNOWING THAT BARBIERI IS A WALK-ON?

“You don’t have to look very far to figure that out. One of the things is, we’re a very talent-rich area, and sometimes some guys go under the radar because there are so many other players. We’ve been fortunate to have some guys come here and work their tail off. A big part of it goes out to our strength and conditioning staff, Jay Butler and his people. They do a tremendous job. Very rarely are walkons instant successes. But through their hard work they’re able to help and play.”

HAVE THE SECONDARY MISTAKES FROM THE FIRST THREE GAMES BEEN CORRECTED FOR THE MOST PART?

“Oh I don’t know. I think we’ll find that out as we get down the road. We played better Saturday. I didn’t anticipate those errors would have shown this year.”

WE SAW DT SCOTT VALLONE MAKE HIS DEBU AGAINST MORGAN STATE. WILL ANY OTHER TRUE FRESHMEN — D.C. JEFFERSON OR ART FORST — PLAY THIS YEAR?

“I don’t know. I think a lot of it the situation will dictate, how things unfold. It was good to get Scott action. Scott’s real factor that was holding him up was his recovery from his injury. I think he’ll get better and better as he gets more and more work.”

YOU PLAYED ANDRES MORALES AT FULLBACK A LOT IN THE SECOND HALF VS. MORGAN STATE. IS JACK CORCORAN STILL THE STARTER?

“Yeah, Jack is still our starter. We felt we needed to see what Morales could do. I thought he did a pretty good job. I want to play more people. We have good players in our program. There’s no reason they shouldn’t play if they can do the job. It’s all about performance.”

HAS MORALES PERFORMED BETTER BECAUSE HE HADN’T PERFORMED WELL IN CAMP. HAS HE MADE STRIDES?

“I don’t know if I agree that he didn’t perform well in camp.”

YOU HAD SAID THAT PART OF THE REASON THAT JACK WAS THE STARTER IS BECAUSE OF THE WAY HE PERFORMED AND PART OF IT WAS BECAUSE HE HAD NOT BEEN PUSHED.

“Right. I didn’t think that Morales played as well as Jack in the competition in training camp. But as far as a baseline performance, I think Morales performed at a baseline level, just not as well as Jack did. But he got in Saturday and did some good things. He wasn’t perfect. But he did some good things. I think whenever you can show promise you deserve to get some more work.”

WILL YOU ADDRESS WITH THE TEAM THE LOPSIDED NATURE OF THE SERIES WITH WEST VIRGINIA?

“No, because to these kids, the majority have played there only once and some never. Again, last week really doesn’t have an effect on this week. So last year, seven years, however long that streak is, 15 years, it really doesn’t have an effect in my mind.”

HOW IS A BILL STEWART-COACHED TEAM DIFFERENT THAN THE ONE COACHED BY RICH RODRIGUEZ?

“I think very similar. Their offense is a little bit different with a new coordinator and some new coaching, but still doing a lot of the same things utilizing Pat’s talents. Defensively they’re very much the same because the coordinator remained the same. In special teams, coach Stewart is doing most of the special teams. They’re very similar to what they were doing. I think it’s very much a similar operation with a couple of tweaks here and there.”

WILL KORDELL YOUNG PLAY THIS WEEK?

“Probably better tell you towards the end of the week. I’m hoping. He does bring something to the table differently than we have right now in our backs.”

ANY OTHER INJURY CONCERNS?

“It was a physical football game, no doubt about it. When you look back, at Morgan State had I think 15 Division 1-A transfers on the team. And you can see that. You can see guys flying around and hitting. It was a physical football team. We’re banged up. But we went out last night and for the most part everyone pushed through it, which is good.”

“You always have to look at that. That to me, because it is all about what you do opportunity-wise. We really as a staff look at efficient runs. And efficient runs are more of a coaching statistic than a statistic you’ll find on the stat sheet.”

HAVE THE LIMITATIONS IN THE RUNNING GAME RESTRICTED YOUR ABILITY TO STRETCH THE FIELD?

“It can because if you’re not a threat to run, they may not commit as many people to stop the run. Well, then you get more two high safety looks. But Navy gave us two high safeties and we rushed for over 200 yards. I think you have to take what’s there.”

DO YOU SEE THE START OF THE BIG EAST SEASON AS A CLEAN SLATE?

“I don’t get into that stuff. They know it. To me it’s all about one opportunity, and that’s this week. And it’s a tough, tough opportunity, going into Morgantown against a very talented football team. That to me is enough.”

SO THERE’S NO THOUGHT THAT EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE 3 LOSSES YOU’RE JUST AS ELIGIBLE AS EVERY OTHER BIG EAST TEAM TO WIN THE CONFERENCE?

“I’m sure every player on the team knows that. They’re competitors, just as I am. But again, we don’t need to concern ourselves with what can be eight weeks from now, 10 weeks from now. We need to concern ourselves about Saturday because Saturday is coming fast. The big clock down in that locker room ticks and never stops ticking and we’ve got to be ready, because this is a very talented team we’re getting ready to play.”

DOES BEING 0-FOR AS A HEAD COACH AGAINST WEST VIRGINIA BOTHER YOU?

“It’s disappointing, right? You’d like to have somebody not have your number. Again, not to over-utilize it, but it is what it is. Nothing you can do about it except Saturday.”

NOTICED FROM A DEFENSIVE STANDPOINT A COMMON THEME IN WEST VIRGINIA’S TWO LOSSES?

“There were some different things they did against Marshall. Pat was lining up in the backfield, Jarrett was with him so Pat was a running back and Jarrett Brown was the quarterback. They did some different things, they’re doing more empty (backfield) and more motions so there is some differences, there’s no doubt. It’s a mix of what Wake Forest did and what West Virginia did. … There could be (a common theme).”

WHAT ARE THE AREAS THAT NEED TO BE CORRECTED NOW IN CONFERENCE PLAY?

“It’s the same. It’s been the same since the beginning. We gotta prevent big plays defensively. How does that happen? Eye discipline, assignment errors, those kinds of things. Offensively you’d like to make big plays, it’s awefully hard to go by 5 (yards), by 5, by 5, by 5, by 5 all the way down the field. Usually somehow you find a way to screw it up; it’s the nature of the game. So hopefully prevent them on defense and get them on offense.”

IS THERE AN AREA THAT’S NOT PERFORMING WELL RIGHT NOW?

“No. I just think that overall we have to get better as a team. It’s no different than the year before, or the year before that, it’s just where your starting point is. We got three more practices to get better this week, so hopefully we can be.”

IS THE INTENT TO GET PAT WHITE TO THROW THE BALL TO BEAT YOU?

“I don’t think you can go in saying that, because he can do that and he’s done that to people. You hear all the time balanced offense, I think you need to play balanced defense against this team. I think you get yourself in trouble if you commit too much to one or the other.”

IS THEIR OFFENSE DIFFERENT WITHOUT AN OWEN SCHMIDT-TYPE FULLBACK?

“There is a little difference there, yeah. Owen was a different player, he was kind of a unique weapon for them over the years.

WHAT DID TIMMY BROWN DO REALLY WELL AGAINST MORGAN STATE?

“I thought he did a nice job, he caught the quick screen there and got up the field. I thought on the touchdown pass he did a tremendous job of focusing on the football. Certainly that was a very tough catch when someone’s yanking on your neck. It’s just a great catch.”

WHAT ABOUT HIS GENERAL TOUGHNESS?

“Oh, he’s getting tougher, Timmy. I think Timmy’s learning what it means; everybody wants to play every down until you get to do it. Then you forget how hard it is. So I think Timmy’s figuring out college football, so that’s good.”

AGAINST THIS WEST VIRGINIA DEFENSE, DO YOU FEEL MORE APT TO RELY MORE ON RUN OR PASS?

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see because you don’t know yet what they’re going to do. I think we know the kind of alignment they’re going to be in, the 3-3-5, but how many people do they dedicate to defending the run, how many people do they dedicate to defending the pass? That can dictate which way we do.”

EVALUATE JAMAAL WESTERMAN’S PERFORMANCE THIS SEASON

“I think Jamaal’s playing well. He’s improved each game. He does some things that I don’t think go noticed on a stat sheet but are very important to us as a coaching staff. His leadership, the things he does in the defensive line. But I do think he’s capable of really performing well.”

DID SEE ON TAPE IF HE PUSHED GEORGE OUT OF THE WAY?

“I didn’t see. It’s a good story. … They can argue about that at their 20th reunion.”

YOU’VE HAD 6 BLOCKED PUNTS OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS, INCLUDING 2 THE PAST TWO WEEKS. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR GENERAL PHILOSOPHY IN THAT AREA?

“You have to pick your spots. If you get overly aggressive you’re going to get burned. I think you have to pick your spots, and I think guys have done a good job of that. And the kids believe in, because we’ve been to do in both in PATs, field goals, and punts over the years. This week, again, it’s a different scheme. You get that wall spread up on you so it’ll be interesting. We haven’t seen that this year.”

SENSE A DIFFERENT HUNGER FROM ANTHONY DAVIS AND KENNY BRITT, AS IF THEY WERE GLAD TO BE BACK LAST NIGHT AT PRACTICE?

“They were ready to go. That hurt them a great deal to miss that game.”

IN LIGHT OF TIM BROWN’S PERFORMANCE AND DENNIS CAMPBELL DROPPING A COUPLE BALLS IS IT POSSIBLE TIM CAN TAKE OVER SOME OF DENNIS’ REPS?

“We’ll see. I thought Dennis did some good things, too. You’re right, he did drop a couple of passes but he made a great run after the catch that got us down to the 40-yard line. I think they’re both playing well. I said all along we need to get the ball of those guys hands as well as 88 and 7. We have to make sure spread it around.”

THE GUYS THAT WERE SORE AFTER MORGAN STATE GAME — PETE TVERDOV, GEORGE JOHNSON, MIKE GILMARTIN, COURTNEY GREENE — DID THEY PRACTICE SUNDAY NIGHT?

“Yeah, they all went.”

WHEN YOU EVALUATE TIQUAN UNDERWOOD AFTER FOUR WEEKS, WHAT DO YOU PINPOINT AS THE REASON HIS NUMBERS ARE DOWN?

“He’s had a couple drops. People are paying more attention to him. And we as an offense, the total numbers are down so we have less opportunities.”

IS CONFIDENCE AN ISSUE, TOO?

“You’d have to ask him. Ti’s a very good athlete, Ti will perform this year, I’m confident about that.”

YOU MENTIONED TEAMS ARE DEFENDING HIM DIFFERENT, HOW SO?

“I thought some teams have done some things where they put a bracket on him.”

A GARY BRACKETT?

(Laughs).

WHAT ABOUT MIKE TEEL CONFIDENCE-WISE?

“Mike’s a steady guy. I thought the last two games he’s played with a little more swagger to him which I’m happy to see.”

ARE YOU PERPLEXED ON WHY THIS TEAM ISN’T FURTHER AHEAD AT THIS STAGE OF THE SEASON?

“I wouldn’t say perplexed. My vision wasn’t to be 1-3 here in Week 5, but that’s where we are. We’ll work hard and we’ll get better, again, I don’t know where that’s going to put us compared to who we have to play this week. We could work our tales off, prepare as hard as we could, and it may not be good enough. But I’ll say it one more time, it is what it is, we have to work hard and get better.”

BUT COULD YOU HAVE IMAGINED “IT IS WHAT IT’S BEEN?’

“No, I couldn’t stand here and tell you I thought we’d be 1-3 at this point. But if I did think so, you probably should’ve had me checked out before the season.”

YOU’RE MORE CONCERNED WITH HOW TEAM PERFORMS THAN WHAT THE RECORD IS, RIGHT?

“I am. I think when you do things right, the record takes care of itself. That’s just my philosophy. What you have to do is you have to look at the issues — What are the issues and what are our resources to fix them?”

PERFORMANCE-WISE, DID YOU EXPECT MORE FROM YOUR TEAM 1/3 OF THE WAY THROUGH THE SEASON?

“I expected more from the whole organization, starting with me. We gotta coach better, players gotta play better, organizations have to do the organizational things better and together that’s how things turn.”